Seal for cars and other purposes.



L. J. CAMPBELL.

SEAL FOR ems AND OTHER PURPOSES.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 17, 1909.

1,097,913. Patented May 26, 1914.

UNITED STA PATENT OFFICE.

LEON J. CAMPBELL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE CAMPBELLINDUSTRIAL COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

SEAL FOR CARS AND OTHER PURPOSES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 26, 1914.

Application filed April 17, 1909. Serial No. 490,478.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEON J. CAMPBELL, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chi cago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Seals for Cars and otherPurposes, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactspecification.

The invention relates to seals for cars and other purposes, andparticularly to the class of seals which are designed to be used once toclose or seal a car, package, or other thing, and to be destroyed or sodefaced as to be incapable of further use when such car, package orother thing, is opened.

The primary object of the invention is to obtain an improved seal of thecharacter described which cannot be opened without breaking it, that is,which cannot be picked, and to obtain an improved seal which iseconomical in construction, of few parts, and readily closed by theoperator.

To the attainment of these ends and the accomplishment of certain othernew and useful objects which will hereinafter appear, the inventionconsists in the features of novcity and in the combination of partshereinafter described, shown in the drawings forming a part of thisspecification, and pointed out more particularly in the ap pendedclaims.

In the said drawingsFigure 1 is an elevation of the improved seal. Fig.2 is a longitudinal sectional view through the locking parts of theseal. Fig. 3 is a sectional view through the locking case taken on line33 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fi 2, showing a modified formof the looking case. Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4:, but showing amodified form of locking means within the casing. Fig. 6 is a sectionalview on line 66 of Fig. 5, looking in the direction indicated by thearrows.

Seals of the character herein described are employed to preventunauthorized persons from tampering with the locks on cars, packages andthe like without leaving visible evidence of their acts. In order toaccomplish this purpose, seals should be so constructed that when oncelocked they cannot be unlocked or picked without so injuring them as tochange their appearance, thereby making the fact very apparent. In thepreferred embodiment of the invention as illustrated 1n the drawingherewith the sealing strip or shackle is shown of the usual fiat metalconstruction indicated by the reference character 10, Figs. 1 to 3inclusive.

11 is the locking casing, which may be formed of any suitable metal, butwhich is preferably formed of iron or other suitable hard metal capableof being molded, and also capable of being chilled in order to impart tothis casing hardness and brittleness so that it may not be tampered withwithout breaking. This casing 11 is preferably formed spherical ornearly so, as illustrated in the drawings, and in being molded it ispreferable that one end of the shank or sealing strip 10 be formed intoa tubular housing, as indicated at 10*. This tubular housing on one endof the sealing strip 10 may be formed and inserted in the mold in orderthat the molten metal in the casing 11 may be formed around the housing,and at the same time firmly attaching the strip 10 to the casing. Thechilling of the casing ll at the time of casting, or the subsequenthardening of the same by well known processes may be carried to theextent that the casing is rendered practically impervious to ordinarytools, so that to reach the interior of the casing necessitates thebreaking of it, thus leaving visible evidence that the seal has beentampered with. The cylindrical housing 10 is provided between itsextremities with an enlarged portion extending around the peripherythereof, as at 10, adapted to serve as a seat and support for thelocking member 12, which preferably consists of a piece of elastic metalor spring wire bent to the form shown most clearly in Fig. 3, having oneof its free ends engagin the seat 1O on the interior of'the casing, andits other end formed to extend into the interior of the common diameterof the cylindrical opening in the casing formed by the housing 10 Thefree end of the locking strip 10 is provided with an attached lockingplug 13,

preferably of the form most clearly shown in Fig. 2, having its forwardend reduced in oraer to have a wedging effect when encountering the freeend of the locking spring 12 which is interposed in its path when it isdesired to insert the locking plug into the housing in the casing. Tothe rear of the exposed reduced or conical point of the plug a groove isformed extending preferably around the plug and being adapted to engagethe free end of the spring 12, which is interposed in the path of theplug. This groove is indicated in the drawings by the referencecharacter 13 The locking plug 13 may be attached to the free end of thestrip 10 in any desired manner, but the preferred form is thatillustrated in which the plug is shown with a wide groove or reducedportion, as at 13 and the material in the strip 10 may be formed aroundthe cylindrical rear end of the plug, and the extremity of the materialpressed downwardly into the groove 13 the preferred manner of securingthe parts together being to fold the extreme end of the material and thestrip 10 one or more times, as illustrated in Fig. 2, thus forming aninwardly projecting flange for engaging the groove 13 in the plug.

A modification of the form of the housing and easing illustrated in Fig.2 is shown in Figs. 1- and 5 in which the locking strip indicated by thereference character 14 is secured to the casing 15 by having the end ofthe casing folded upon itself as indicated at 16, which serves as ameans for securing the strip within the material of the casing, themolten metal of which is allowed to flow around the end of the strip 1%at the time the casing is cast. In this modification of the inventionthe housing 17 for providing the locking chamber is formed separate fromthe locking strip,

In Figs. 5 and 6 a further modification of the invention is shown inwhich two gravity washers of a diameter larger than the common diameterof the housing are mounted in the peripheral enlargement 18 in thehousing 17. These washers are indicated by the reference characters 19,and it will be apparent that there may be any number of these gravitywashers or circular locking members employed.

The metallic casing 11 may be of any suitable metal, but is preferablyformed of gray iron, which, after being molded, is subjected to achilling process, thus rendering it very hard and impervious to ordinarytools. The chilling of the casing 11 also increases the brittleness ofit, so that any attempt to reach the interior of the casing for thepurpose of picking the lock will result in the breaking of the casing,thereby rendering any tampering with the seal easy and certain ofdetection. In order to prevent further possibility of tampering with thelock, it is preferred that the plug 13 also be chilled, thus making itvery difficult, if not impossible, for persons tampering with the lockto remove the plug by drilling or boring, which, if the plug were nothardened or chilled, might be done, and the broken end of the sealingstrip again inserted into the casing after the plug is drilled out,which might enable persons tampering with the seal to restore it to itsnormal appearance, and thus avoid detection.

In the manufacture of the seal as described, the housing formed on theend of the sealing strip may be inserted in the mold and the metalformed around it, after which the spring 12 may be inserted, or, ifdesired, the'spring may be inserted into the retaining groove in thehousing before the operation of casting, and in the use of themodification illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6, in which the circularmetallic rings or washers 19 take the place of the spring, it ispreferred that these be secured within their retaining groove in thehousing when the housing is formed, after which the. metal forming thecasing may be cast around the housing, and the end of the sealing stripprovided with the hooked portion 16.

One of the most common uses to which this invention may be applied isthe sealing of cars, and in the form of the invention illustrated inFigs. 1 to 3, the seal is placed in the hands of the operator with thelocking spring 12 in position on the inside of the housing. The free endof the sealing strip 10 to which is secured the cylindrical plug 13 isthen passed through the parts to be secured together, and thelcck iscoinpleted by the insertion of the member 13 into the housing within thecasing. The plug 13 is preferably beveled or pointed, as illustrated, atits forward point, and this forward portion contacts with the end of theelastic locking member 12, which is normally interposed in its path. Theplug being now inserted into the housing with some force, the interposedportion of the locking member 12 will be forced out of the path of theplug until the peripheral groove 13 in the plug registers with thelocking member 12, when the deflectedportion of the locking member willthen spring into the groove, thus permanently locking the member 13 andthe end of the sealing strip within the casing 11. The peripheral groove10 in the housing within the casing furnishes a firm support for theelastic locking member 12, and when the parts are constructed asdescribed, it is found that the locking strip 10 will be fracturedoutside of the locking casing before the locking plug 13 may bedisengaged from the holding power of the locking means within the g..

When the gravity washers 19 shown in Figs. 5 and 6 are used instead ofthe elastic locking member 12, the locking member 13 is beveled orpointed, as before, and as the apertures within the washers are slightlygreater in diameter than the extreme diameter of the member 13, thewashers 19 will be lifted, on the insertion of the plug, until thegroove 13 registers with the washers, when they will drop into thegroove, and being of a diameter larger than the common diameter of thecasing, one or more of them will at all times engage both the groove inthe member 13, and the peripheral enlargement 18 in the housing, thusforming a permanent lock, and as in the previously described embodimentof the invention, a lock that cannot be released without defacing orbreaking the casing and thus rendering de tection certain and plainlvisible.

It is one of the advantageous features of the construction abovedescribed that the locking plug on the end of the sealing strip orshackle opposite the casing is of such length that it is almost entirelycovered by the rigid metallic casing when the seal is in operativecondition. This makes it al most impossible for one desiring to tamperwith the seal to break off the locking plug because it is difficult toget suficient hold of a short portion of the end of it protruding beyondthe casing, and if it be broken off there is nothing to fasten theparts. On the other hand, with the common form of sealing strip in whichthe thin end of the strip is inserted in the casing, oftentimessuflicient variation in the thickness of the materials will occur andthus enable persons tampering with the seal to re-insert the broken endof the sealing strip into the casing, enabling fraud to be practisedwithout detection. It is also an important fea ture of the inventionthat the material of the sealing strip 10 surrounds the locking plug 13and extends into the groove 13 of the plug, because when constructed inthis manner, and as illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawings, the materialof the strip is permanently and effectively locked on the interior ofthe casing so that any strain of a breaking nature will cause thematerial of the strip on the outside of the plug to be fractured beforethe connection between the material of the strip and the groove 13 inthe plug is released. Connection of the end of the strip or shackle withthe plug 13 is particularly effective when constructed as illustrated inFig. 2 with the material at the forward end of the strip within thegroove folded upon itself so that it has a plurality of thicknesses withthe folds next to the bottom of the groove. When any strain is broughtupon the strip tending to withdraw the strip and the plug from thecasing the folds of the material Within the groove will tend to act as alever or roll and cause the material of the strip surrounding the plugto bind against the walls of the casing in such manner that a fractureof the material of the strip or shackle will occur at the outerextremity of the plug 13 before the connection between the strip plugand casing will be broken on the interior of the casing.

In order that the invention might be fully understood the details of thepreferred embodiment thereof have been thus specifically described. Itwill be apparent that many modifications may be made by those skilled inthe art without departing from the purpose and spirit of the invention,and

h at I claim is:

1. In a seal, a sealing strip, a housing formed integrally with saidsealing strip at one end thereof, a casing of chilled metal around saidhousing, locking means within the housing, and a chilled locking plugsecured to the other end of the sealing strip and adapted to cooperatewith the housing and the locking means therein.

2. In a seal, a sealing strip, a casing secured to one end of said stripand being provided with an aperture communicating with a peripherallyenlarged opening in the interior of the casing, a movable locking membersecured in position within the peripherally enlarged opening, and alocking plug secured to the sealing strip and adapted to enter theaperture in the casing, there being a peripheral groove in the saidlocking plug adapted to cooperate with the locking member in theinterior of the casing.

8. In a seal, a sealing strip, a casing secured to one end of said stripand being provided with an aperture communicating with a peripherallyenlarged opening in the interior of the casing, an elasticallycontrolled locking member secured in position within the peripherallyenlarged opening, and a locking plug secured to the sealing strip andadapted to enter the aperture in the casing, there being a peripheralgroove in the said locking plug adapted to cooperate with the lockingmember in the interior of the casing.

1-. The combination of a sealing strip, a casing secured to one end ofthe strip, a tubular extension on the'other end of the strip, aninwardly projecting flange within the tubular extension, and a lockingplug adapted to cooperate with the casing, said locking plug beingprovided with a groove adjacent its free end cooperating with the rib inthe tubular extension to secure the plug to the strip.

5. In a seal, a sealing strip, a casing secured to one end of saidstrip, and a locking plug adapted to cooperate with the casing, saidlocking plug being provided with a groove adjacent its free end wherebythe material of the strip may be given a tubular form to surround thatportion of the lockname to this specification, in the presence of ingplug between the groove therein and the ttvo snhs'cribing itnesses, onthis 146th day extremity opposite the free endthereo f, the of April, A.1909. lnfit eriel of the strip being folded nponitself J.

one or more times Within the groove for 'se- Htnesses: cnrlng the stmpand locklng plug together. A. L. Srnrnnnn,

In testnnony whereof I have slgned my SnnM.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for fore cents ca ch, adqressingthe Qonnnissioner o1 Patents,

Washington, 1) 0.

